The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), in a letter regarding the troubled and delayed construction on I-26 in between Lexington and Calhoun County, laid blame on who’s at fault for those lengthy delays.
In the letter to State Senator Nikki Setzler, SCDOT Secretary Christy Hall explained that some of the paving work done by Boggs Paving, a now-suspended contractor out of North Carolina, “did not meet specifications for quality.” Hall said some of the work perfomed by Boggs had to be removed and repaved.
The roadwork in question stretches on I-26 from I-77 down through Dixiana and Sandy Run into Calhoun County, and has caused frequent gridlock and lots of frustration from people who travel that stretch of road every day. At present, the work is a year behind schedule, having been scheduled for completion last November. Now, SCDOT is saying it will be done by this September.
Hall went on to state that the paving work for the project is now in different hands; a company out of Florida, Anderson Columbia, is now engaged in fixing the poor quality work that had been done by Boggs before June of this year. Hall said that the Florida contractor hopes to have I-26 fixed and looking good again by next month, but she admits, that's an “aggressive schedule” that'll “require several crews working simultaneously.”
Boggs is currently suspended by the Federal Highway Administration, and is not, according to Hall, doing any other work for SCDOT. In 2014, Boggs' CEO pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Defraud the United States and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering for an unrelated issue.
